Sir, this is indeed a historic day, especially for the Sikh community and I think maybe for this House were / probably,dic 5 for the first time, we will all be standing on the same side of the fence. Well I / have always fought battles for our rights, I am very happy to see that after many years and after a / long and hard battle, today, for the first time, a bill has been introduced which concerns the Sikh community. It / has been a long-standing grievance of the Sikhs that were during the British period the Sikhs were given a (100) separate identity and recognized as a separate religion, but in 1951 when the new Constitution was adopted, our identity was / totally abolished and we were put as a part of the Hindu Dharma. This is a total injustice to the / community that put up a brave and strong battle for the freedom of this country.

Be it Kalapani, be / it the hanging of the Indians by the British, or those who had been shot by the British, / over 70 per cent contribution was made by this great community who could never have thought that when it comes (200) to getting their rights- every community, be it the Hindus; be it the Muslims; be it the Christians; be it / the Parsis; be it the Jews, every religion would be given this right of having their marriages registered under their / own Act, except for that one strong and brave community who had put up the biggest struggle and the biggest / fight to get freedom for this nation. So, with a heavy heart I have to tell that whereas the Sikh / community which is a total separate religion having a total separate identity followed their own customs and ceremonies because this (300) is a religion which has been laid down by the Great Guru Govind Singhji in 1699 AD.

For us this / was not a political issue but an extremely religious and emotional issue that we should be given our own identity / and our marriages should be registered through our own Act. It is because three million Sikhs living abroad, whenever they / went abroad they were asked to show their marriage certificates. The Marriages were registered under the Hindu Marriage Act. So, / we could not explain and there was a huge identity crisis as to why we wear a turban. When we (400) would tell them that this is a separate religion, they would say that no we were a part of the / Hindu religion. So, It was not just emotional issue.

But a huge crisis for my community. I am truly / grateful that today, I think, after a very long time, it was, I think, in 2007 when this Bill was / introduced and unanimously approved by the Standing Committee on Law and Justice. It took two Ministers and now, I think, / now the third hon. Minister for Law and Justice is here and maybe he being from a Minority community himself (500) he understood the pain and anguish of another Minority community and I, on behalf of my entire community, am truly / grateful that finally we have managed to achieve what my community had been asking for a long time and pleading to / allow our marriages to be registered under its own Act, under the Anand Karaj Act, just like every other religion / is allowed to do so in our country. I am truly grateful to the hon. Prime Minister, to the hon. / Minister who had brought it to the Cabinet which graciously gave their approval and now the Bill is before the (600) House and I hope this Bill would be unanimously passed by everybody in this House.

Sir, the truth is that / if the Union Cabinet’s decision is not amended, may further complicate the whole issue regarding Sikh marriages and would lead / to more complications to the Sikh community. It is also true that instead of being elated, the need is to / seriously evaluate and analyse the new development by the Sikh intelligentsia, and the religious leaders. First of all, the views / expressed by a majority of the political and religious leaders that the Anand Marriage Act was made redundant or inapplicable (700) after the Indian Independence in 1947 is totally wrong and without substance. My observations are based on the fact that / after Independence, in the year 1949, the Indian Government passed and enactment, namely, the Merged States (Laws) Act, 1949, which / declared the continuation of all the 256 Acts passed from 1839 to 1949 and most importantly this includes the Anand / Marriage Act, 1909 itself. So, the Act continues to be in force from 1909 till date. The second argument which / I would like to stress is that the Anand Marriage Act, 1909 was also amended by the Legislature of India (800) in 1959, which was enforced with effect from 1st February, 1960. All these developments are proof of the fact that / after passing of the Anand Marriage Act, in 1909, it has never been annulled or made ineffective as claimed by / most of the leaders and writers. Rather, it always remained in force in law.

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